Dunesday is Coming
Who are the unlikely saviours of the sinking book industry?
Hey readers! I [Ashe] have been contemplating how marketing inserts itself into community led social media, and how its reception has changed over time.
While TikTok slowly had started becoming a viable place for marketing , I was taking a brands in social media elective at UvA. During a lecture, the course coordinator explained how social media spaces increasingly become less social as brands enter the space.
Initially, our class concluded in groupthink, brands almost tentatively knock at the door to enter into the space.
Quickly, that ‘can I come in’ becomes that person who just won’t leave, who actually invited a bunch of their other friends over that you don’t know or care for, creating noise. The business model: a great house party that you inundate with ads til no one wants to be there.
I was Ratatouille’d back to it when I watched a video of Robert Downey Jr. saying to the crowd “We both have films opening on December 18th, and we decided to coin a name for it. We’re thinking ‘DUNESDAY.’”
Inspired by Barbenheimer… but I think Barbenheimer worked because it was created by the audience; the masses. It wasn’t touted to us by Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie; in fact in its inception, it was almost left to grow on its own.
All this to say: Stop trying to make Dunesday happen. It’s not going to happen.
or maybe, I’m just being a hater.
Oscar nominees are out. Sinners makes history with a record 16 nominations.
Harry Styles announces Together, Together tour. With 7 cities and 50 dates (30 of which are in NYC), portion of the earnings will allegedly go to three charities.
Arctic Monkeys release music after 4 years in a collab album with War Child; ft. others like Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, Beabadoobee, The Last Dinner Party, and more.
Pete Davidson to release video podcast The Pete Davidson Show, launching Jan 30.
Mitski announces new album “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me”, out Feb 27.
Bridgerton Season 4 coming soon: Part One on Jan 29, Part Two on Feb 26.
Heated Rivalry’s showrunners Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will be torchbearers for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan.
Naomi Osaka showed up in an iconic fit, and beat Cirstea — who felt disrespected by Osaka’s exclaims of motivation in between sets. Blatant racism or sore loser?
Doriane Pin becomes development driver for Mercedes F1 team.
F1 driver for Williams, Alex Albon engaged to professional golfer Lily Muni He.
Senegal wins the AFCON, with a chaotic — not for the reasons you may think — final.
Men’s Paris Fashion Week happening Jan 20-25.
Valentino Garavani (of the fashion house Valentino) dead at 93.
Blue Hair
No, it’s not just North West. Blue hair seems to be in the air. Jokingly dubbed a sign that woke is back (cause of the whole blue haired liberal meme), this color seems to be back in vogue. We’ll say though, aesthetics of rebellion/alternative culture have been touching the mainstream recently more and more mainstream. That obviously doesn’t mean the woke blue hair agenda has too; I’d argue we’re more fascist, right-wing, capitalist than ever!
Maybe what this means is maximalism is really back… let’s see if 2016 woke follows.
Bookstreaming
There’s been a lot of talk about reading lately, mostly driven by alarming stats coming out of the US: fewer than half of Americans read even one book last year, book chapters are shrinking, students struggle to finish a single title, and BookTok’s heydays appear to be over.
An unexpected knight in shining armor? Streamers. The trend was ignited by Kai Cenat, who started streaming himself reading self-help books aloud.
Yet our own field notes from commutes and cafés in Amsterdam — and the plethora of ‘read more books in 2026’ resolutions — proves reading is still very much alive. Thank god!
We enjoyed The Atlantic’s recent framing of reading as a selfish, antisocial, anti-productive act. Who doesn’t like to be rebellious?!
Legumes (ft. lentil ‘caviar’)
Last year we had the revival of cottage cheese (with polarized reaction), and word on the grapevine is 2026 might be the legumes time to shine — peanuts, beans, peas, and lentils.
Upping fiber and protein, while wanting it to be affordable, combined with increasing popularity of ‘volume’ eating, legumes make sense. Plus, since we’re back in the #skinny era, carb-phobia is bringing back the food trends of the past. I mean, dense bean salads were inescapable for a bit. We’ve had the sweet chickpea moment with ‘chocolate hummus’ before… if it works for you, it works. But have we been trynna make legumes happen for like, half a decade now?
“Cook lentils [in dashi/broth], add sea salt to taste, throw some furikake nori (or plain crushed up nori on top), let it ‘mingle’, and bam… lentil caviar to eat on top of crunchy bread.” shares a friend of PTS, inspired by a viral video from @saranash77 on TikTok.
BBC Pidgin
Intrigued by West African Pidgin English, people have been following the news through BBC’s pidgin Instagram account.
There is a level of ‘memefying’ a dialect of English that feels a little icky; like its popularity is because it’s somehow seen as a meme or jokey language. But perhaps that’s just how some people’s curiosity and interest comes off, specially in the age of irony and insincerity.
Health Patches
The newest health fad you’ve probably already noticed: people, mostly women, walking around with cute heart and star-shaped pastel coloured stickers dotted across their body. These are wellness patches, promising everything from energy boosts, and detox to sole vitamin production like vitamin D top-ups and even GLP-1–style appetite control. They work on the idea of transdermal delivery, releasing ingredients through the skin.
The patches is part of the “self-care as status symbol” current we’re still flowing in: think under-eye patches worn in public and Rhode’s lip balm phone cover.
Yet the scientific backing for these patches is thin and the health experts are skeptical about their efficacy.
For further reading check the piece in The Guardian.
Connor Storie Glute Workout
Kettlebells suddenly flying off the racks at your local gym? It’s probably because a Heated Rivalry star credited elevated sumo squats for his firm backside.
Japanese Yoghurt Cheesecake, Improved?
In hindsight — and after a lot more scrolling, turns out that Japanese Yoghurt Cheesecake recipe was meant to be a ‘healthy’ dessert. [Ashe] rolls their eyes at these sort of things; but if it helps you, it helps you. Yoghurt with sweet stuff on it has always been a delicious dessert.
There’s an ‘improved’ version taking over the car mukbang part of the internet; it’s just the traditional no-bake cheesecake but made like the Japanese yoghurt cheesecake. The cream cheese is topped with, well, cheesecake toppings.
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2016 Returns: Fetty Wap Out of Jail
We thought it would’ve been too known to report, but Fetty Wap; of 2016 fame, the progenitor of the ol’ 1738 vocal stim, artist that gave us Trap Queen and 679 ft Remy Boyz, was released from jail on the 8th of Jan. Some even suggest his release catapulted the 2026 is the return of 2016 phenomenon.
(Lit) Tabletop RPG to Screen
The LitRPG book series Dungeon Crawler Carl (we’d told you about it last August) may be getting a TV series thanks to Universal and Seth McFarlane.
With Critical Role’s The Mighty Nein having just finished it’s first (very, very short imo) season and Vox Machina getting it’s 4th season sometime this year… it’s clear that it’s not just video games that are continuously getting the show/movie green lights.
The Dunesday vs Barbenheimer comparison really hits home. Brands always wanna manufacter moments but the best viral stuff happens when the internet just runs with an idea organically. I tried to force a meme in a group chat once and it just died instantly lol. The bookstreaming thing is wild tho - never thought Twitch would become the thing that saves reading culture.